On Wednesday, June 25th, I attended The Capital Network (TCN) year-end gala at the Museum of Science in Boston, MA and heard the inspiring story of John Crowley.

John Crowley started Novazyme Pharmaceuticals in 2000, spurred by the the 1998 diagnosis of two of his children with Pompe disease – a fatal neuromuscular disorder - and would not survive for long without treatment. In a little over a year, he raised $27M from venture capitalists to develop a cure to treat Pompe disease. Within two years of its inception, Novazyme was acquired by Genzyme for $137.5M and John oversaw the progress of clinical trials to reality, including the enrollment of his children in the trials.

In his talk, John recounted how he never thought of himself as an entrepreneur until driven by circumstances to find a cure for Pompe disease. Among the many lessons he offered was to have a vision and to be resilient in the face of disappointments, whether from the funding front or the research front, to reach this vision. I think this is the essence of entrepreneurship.

In 2006, Geeta Anand, Pulitzer prize winning writer for The Wall Street Journal, authored a book on Mr. Crowley entitled “The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million- and Bucked the Medical Establishment- in a Quest to Save His Children.” (www.thecurebook.com). If you have a chance to read the book, do so — it is truly an inspiring story about how anyone with the drive CAN build a company and make a difference.

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